1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a shooting device, a electronic image stabilization method, and a electronic image stabilization program, and more specifically to a shooting device, a electronic image stabilization method, and a electronic image stabilization program customized to the individuality of a user and a shooting environment especially for stabilization of shooting device shake such as camera shake.
2. Description of the Related Art
A shooting device such as a digital (still) camera, video camera and so on (hereinafter referred to as a shooting device) has made rapid improvement for a higher pixel resolution, higher zoom magnification, smaller, and lighter unit. However, the improvement in these functions and conveniences causes shooting device shake such as camera shake. Especially, with a shooting device such as a camera provided on a portable telephone, images are often shot at very dark places, and the shooting device is not provided with a flash in many cases, thereby easily causing the shooting device shake (the camera shake, for example) as compared with a normal shooting device (a camera, for example).
A countermeasure against the shooting device shake is an optical stabilization method and a stabilization method by digital processing. In a normal field of shooting devices, an optically stabilizing method is adopted for marketed products.
However, the characteristic (frequency and rotation direction) of shooting device shake when a subject is shot by a shooting device depends on each user, the shape of the shooting device, and the use of a shooting device by the user. For example, the characteristic of shooting device shake largely depends on the age, sex, hand size, force of a hand holding a shooting device and so on of a user. When a portable telephone is provided with a shooting device such as a camera, the method of holding the shooting device may be different between a portrait format and a landscape format. In a shooting device such as a camera, the position of a shutter button normally depends on whether or not an autofocus (AF) function is to be used. Also in this case, the characteristic of screen depends each condition.
Therefore, when a electronic image stabilization is made as a shooting device shake stabilizing function for a shooting device shake characteristic anticipated for general users, the optimum electronic image stabilization cannot be made for each user. That is, since the stabilization characteristic (frequency and rotation direction) of shooting device shake is not suitable for a specific user, a desired electronic image stabilization effect cannot be obtained, an unnatural stabilization can be made to a shot image, or an unnecessarily long time is required for a stabilization. As a result, the user cannot acquire a successful effect of a function of stabilizing the shooting device shake, a resultant shot image shows an unnatural impression, and the user may have the stress of wasting a long time in stabilizing an image.
To solve the above-mentioned problems, there is a method proposed for obtaining shooting device shake frequency information when the user holds a capture device for a predetermined time at a shop when he or she purchases a capture device for a video movie and the like, transferring the information to the manufacturer of the device, generating by the manufacturer the shake control information specific to the frequency, writing the control information to the capture device, and then selling the device to the user (for example, refer to patent document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2001-346094).
The shooting device shake characteristic of a user depends not only on the individuality of a user such as the user age, sex, hand size, force of a hand holding a shooting device and so on as described above but also on the shooting condition such as the brightness during shooting, exposure time (environment), a shooting device holding method, the position of a shutter button and so on. Therefore, the electronic image stabilization cannot be optimized depending on the individuality of a user and a shooting environment only by the shooting device shake frequency obtained within a limited time under the limited environment in a shop. That is, it is hard to customize the electronic image stabilization to widely respond to various types of shooting device shake caused in various environmental conditions.